Dr. Moses Younglove of the Columbia County area is a unique medical figure in this region’s history. Residing next to the Shaker Community in Lebanon/New Lebanon, he witnessed the birth of one of this regions most important religious followings in American history. Between 1796 and 1805, the Shaker community played a very important role helping to ease the political, economic and social tension that developed in New York City when yellow fever became a frequent event. While churches provided places for the sick to seek care, and often die, the Shakers due to their successful farms, provided the city with precious amounts of food and medicinal herb supplies. By 1807, this enabled the Shaker community residing just across the state border in Massachusetts to initiate an herbal medicine farming industry. By 1810 this industry became the primary means for the Shakers to make an earning, a practice which quickly spread to the other Shaker villages back in New York as well.

Throughout the history of Shakerism in the eastern Columbia County setting, Dr. Younglove was observing as well another movement forming in local medicine–the popularity of mountain and mineral water springs. In what became known as New Lebanon, the popularity of New Lebanon Springs took off by 1810. This event was also preceded by some historical events taking place along the Hudson River shorelines as well years earlier. In 1800, the Ballstown/Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs were popular retreats for the invalids and people in need of cures from consumption, rheumatoid, gout, “asthma”, and numerous other diseases. Due to this brief surge in popularity of medical springs, again in part a consequence of the region’s yellow fever epidemic history in New York City, the Poughkeepsie village edge located right on the river offered people not willing to take the long trip north to Ballston the opportunity to stay at a hotel in what was then called New Ballston, to take advantage of the fresh air and make use of New Ballston Springs. These medical springs were simply a consequence of water trickling down through the soil layers from farming lands more uphill and inland, closer to what is now the center of Poughkeepsie city on over to what is now Arlington. To some valetudinarians who favored the fresh climate, mountain air, and clean waters of these two upper counties of New York–Dutchess and Columbia–many came to favor New Lebanon over the many other water cure facilities then beginning to develop.

Dr. Moses Younglove also had this knowledge and experience as an important cultural piece of his personal history when he lived and practiced medicine in the region between the very popular and rapidly growing village-turned-city for the county–Hudson, and the eastern edge of the state in New Lebanon.

Sometime in 1802, it was determined that the use of inoculations for small pox by making use of a newly tested cow pox vaccine had the effect of preventing the more deadly small pox from scarring and afflicting uninfected people of all ethnicities and ages. A few physicians in the young United States quickly adopted this manner of infectious disease prevention first documented in England. Pennsylvania physician John Redman Coxe is often given the recognition for being the first to bring this practice and its required cow pox vaccine products back to the U.S.–quills or strings holding the pus of a pock pustule, appropriately dried and treated and handled very carefully, and then packed in any of several types of “sanitary”, dry containers (most commonly vials) or dry, waterproof wrappings (much less successful). Following in Coxe’s footsteps were physicians from Harvard Medical College, and the Hudson Valley’s Quaker physician and soon-to-be published medical writer Shadrach Ricketson. Likewise, as this method of preventing disease became very popular, by 1803 we see some of the first unique human case studies published regarding the use of the cow pox vaccination process and products, one of the more important of which covered on another page is the series of cases and experiments engaged in and published in the Medical Repository by Dr. Isaac Van Voorhis of Fishkill.

The family history genealogical notes found on the web for Moses Younglove (see end of this page) indicate that as a Doctor, Younglove made a considerable amount of money providing the cow pox vaccine to the people. Like Shadrach Ricketson, he was an important financial contributor to local church and government, and played a most important role in improving and/or funding the local education programs made available for children.

Dr. Younglove’s major contribution to the valley as a physician was his work with the immunization program, efforts that would continue to be noticed for more than 20 years. Descriptions of his work and accomplishments were published in the form of pamphlets circulated about the county and village of Hudson areas (a copy of the republished version provided here), and on occasion noted in the medical journals as well. Surprisingly, very little personal information about Dr. Younglove is found in the publications made available through Google Books. There is mostly one obituary note I uncovered about his contributions to the community and another making mention of Younglove as a promoter of a childhood education program.

Prior to his work and accomplishments as a physician and philanthropist, Moses Younglove served as a Surgeon’s Assistant/Field Surgeon during the later Revolutionary War years. During this time he was imprisoned by an Iroquois group to the north of Columbia County. Recounts of this history are found in several documents of historians and other writers reflecting upon the unique wartime experiences young Younglove had, discussing as well the rarity of his fortune at surviving his imprisonment by the Iroquois.

Another very interesting article written by Younglove pertains to the ancient “Military” landforms noted out west in Ohio. Upstate New York had remnants of a few such archeological sites, knowledge of which was commonplace to local settlers, but very little of it fully appreciated and appropriately documented. Younglove gives an interesting historical interpretation of the discoveries of these mounds in Ohio. His philosophical comparison of the flow of water in troughs, versus the newly realized physical behaviors and mechanisms underlying how blood flows through blood vessels, the editor of this State’s Medical Repository Samuel Latham Mitchell felt worthy of publishing. [note: each of these articles from Google Books have bibliographic source inferred by the image name; links to be added.]
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(Note: this first article providing background information may not be penned by Younglove)
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NOTE: the author for above piece is not given and probably not Younglove.

Moses Younglove was the son of Isaiah and Mary Lucas Younglove. He married Polly Patterson 11 July 1781 in New Lebanon. Moses and Polly had no children of their own but adopted a niece Polly Younglove Jones.Other Genealogy Information:
A Revolutionary War surgeon, Dr Moses was captured and carried to Canada. He suffered greatly at the hands of his Indian captors and acquired a lifelong antipathy for Indians. Dr. Moses and Polly had no children but a favored niece, Polly Younglove JONES, spent part of her childhood with her aunt and uncle and was formally or informally adopted by them. Polly married Elam TILDEN and became the mother of Samuel Jones TILDEN,
governor of New York and unsuccessful presidential candidate against Rutherford B. Hayes. Dr. Moses embraced the concept of inoculation against smallpox developed by the English surgeon Edward Jenner in 1796-97. Following an initial period of rejection in America a Rev. Cotton Mather’s house was bombed after he publicly espoused inoculation and subjected his own son to it. The idea was finally accepted and widely practiced. Dr. Moses is reputed to have made considerable money from inoculations against smallpox. Information from James Younglove